Rotary carousel blow molding machines are known in the art as exemplified in the Waterloo U.S. Pat. No. 3,764,250 issued Oct. 9, 1973; the Craig U.S. Pat. No. 4,505,664 issued Mar. 19, 1985; the Frohn U.S. Pat. No. 4,439,127 issued Mar. 27, 1984 and the Myers U.S. Pat. No. 4,549,865 issued Oct. 29, 1985.
In the past, the blown article has been removed from a mold station on the rotary carousel by various means. For example, in the Waterloo patent referred to above, a blown container falls by gravity from a mold station when the mold halves are opened at an unloading position corresponding to the lowest path of travel of the mold station. In the aforementioned Craig patent, a wheeled cart removes the blown article from opened mold halves. The aforementioned Myers patent employs an ejector mechanism operative to remove a blown container.
The Kubota et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,213,750 issued July 22, 1980, describes a horizontal rotary carousel blow molding machine that includes a rotary eject turret to remove a blown container from opened molds. The rotary eject turret is rotated in synchronism with the carousel to pass between the mold halves when they are opened at an unloading station. The eject turret includes suction holes to hold a side of the blown container by vacuum action after the blown container is ejected from one of the mold halves by an ejector or knock-out pin. The eject turret carries the blown article to an upper conveyor as the turret is rotatably indexed.